While processed and packaged food and beverage products are prominently shaping the demand for conveyor belts, increasing automation across industries is also raising significant demand worldwide.

A new intelligence study published by Future Market Insights projects a moderate revenue growth outlook for agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belts. The global sales of agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt are likely to reach beyond US$ 3 Bn in 2020, witnessing a steady yearly expansion in 2019 and 2020, says the report.

Consistently growing installation of conveyor belts at a growing number of automated assembly lines set up in production plants will continue to generate robust demand for conveyor belts, according to the report.

Standard conveyor belts that deliver relatively more efficient performance translate into least turnaround time for manufacturers, and thus represent the highest adoption potential.

Standard black rubber conveyor and elevator belt owing to superior efficiency holds more than 70% share in the total market value, at present.

Application of agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt in processing equipment continues to be maximum, accounting for over half the share of the total market revenue.

Material handling and packaging equipment are projected to cover a significant market value in terms of application, equating a share of just-under 1/4th of the global market revenue.

With more than 60% value share in agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt market, synthetic rubber remains a preferred material over the natural variant.

The end use analysis of agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt landscape reveals that food grains/cereals and sugar represent a cumulative share of more than 55% in the global value, followed by the vegetables segment.

SEA & Pacific and Europe represent the largest regional markets for agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt respectively, contributing over 40% share in the total market value.

Accelerated Local Food Production Is Creating Opportunities

Europe, one of the two key regions for growth of agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt market, has been the global agricultural hub. The EU has been playing a pivotal role in empowering local producers and farmers through CAP (Common Agricultural Policy). The ultimate objective of promoting local farming activities and supplement the overall food production levels is likely to propel sales of agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belts in coming years.

Leading manufacturers continue to invest in R&D of innovative, high performance materials for belt conveyors, thereby unlocking a heap of application opportunities in the near future. A growing focus of manufacturers on strategic mergers and acquisitions is likely to direct them towards an enhanced portfolio of offerings that intends to capture a larger market share through an extended outreach across the agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt landscape.

“Some of the leaders are exclusively strategizing acquisition of prominent Tier 3 players for an improved regional/local foothold in the market,” reports the analyst.

Maintenance Service

The global market for agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt is a highly fragmented landscape, with Tier 3 players holding a major share of the revenue. Looking at the intensity of competition on the global agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt landscape, a majority of global as well as regional players are striving to introduce maintenance service packages with an objective to cater to the growing demand for onsite conveyor belts maintenance.

As a typical conveyor belts system has an average life span of four years and requires timely maintenance check for superior performance, a wide scope lies for the incorporation of technologically advanced monitoring systems. Companies are likely to leverage their technical expertise in maintaining a differentiating edge over competition, projects the report.

The report also explains that the criticality of meeting multiple international regulatory standards such as FDA and EU norms remains paramount for conveyor belt manufacturers. This, especially in case of food safety management, remains a longstanding challenge raising the quality bar for manufacturers. As indicated by the report, companies operating in agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt landscape are constantly extending efforts to address the concerned challenges and thereby satisfy the desired regulatory guidelines.

While the competitive landscape assessment presented in the report by FMI discusses in detail the key company profiles followed by their strategic developments of late, it intends to help market stakeholders spot the most actionable strategic insights that potentially support their growth in the long run. Some of the companies active in agricultural and food grade rubber conveyor belt market that have been covered in the report include Continental AG, Cobra Group, Fenner PLC, and Artego SA.